METALS-Shanghai aluminium rises for 6th day, set for best week since Aug

4 Min Read

BEIJING, May 17 (Reuters) - Shanghai aluminium prices moved
higher for a sixth consecutive session in early trade on Friday,
as alumina refinery shutdowns in northern China's Shanxi
province raise production costs for the metal used in everything
from cans to cars.
Aluminium is on course to gain 1.7% in Shanghai this week,
which would mark its best week since the one ended Aug. 24,
2018.
FUNDAMENTALS
* ALUMINIUM: The most traded July aluminium contract on the
Shanghai Futures Exchange rose as much as 0.5% to
14,420 yuan ($2,092.43) a tonne, the highest since Oct. 26, and
stood at 14,370 yuan a tonne as of 0147 GMT. London aluminium
was down 0.5% at $1,850.50 a tonne after hitting a
two-week high in the previous session.
* ALUMINA: Alumina prices in northern China SMM-ALM-NCHN
have now exceeded 3,000 yuan a tonne and touched their highest
since Dec. 10.
* CHINA: Prior to the shutdowns, China's alumina output rose
4.2% y/y to 6.28 million tonnes in April, according to data
released on Thursday. The figure is the highest monthly total on
records on the bureau's website since June 2017.
* HYDRO: A Brazilian federal court has lifted one of two
production embargoes on Norsk Hydro's Alunorte alumina
refinery, the company said on Thursday, raising hopes that full
production can soon resume.
* COLUMN: Chinese outages a reminder of aluminium's dirty
secret: Andy Home
* OTHER METALS: Benchmark three-month copper on the London
Metal Exchange was down 0.3% at $6,080.50 a tonne, while
the rest of the LME complex was also trading lower, except for
tin.
* COPPER: Polish mining company KGHM may produce
more copper than planned at its Sierra Gorda mine in Chile in
2019, while keeping capital expenditure below target, its deputy
chief executive in charge of foreign assets said.
* For the top stories in metals and other news, click
or
MARKETS NEWS
* Asian shares were trying to end a bleak week in the black
on Friday as upbeat U.S. economic news and solid company
earnings offered a respite from the interminable Sino-U.S. trade
saga.
PRICES
BASE METALS PRICES 0147 GMT
Three month LME copper 6083
Most active ShFE copper 47880
Three month LME aluminium 1849
Most active ShFE aluminium 14370
Three month LME zinc 2617.5
Most active ShFE zinc 20995
Three month LME lead 1833
Most active ShFE lead 16185
Three month LME nickel 12120
Most active ShFE nickel 97900
Three month LME tin 19540
Most active ShFE tin 145480
BASE METALS ARBITRAGE
LME/SHFE COPPER LMESHFCUc3 1553.73
LME/SHFE ALUMINIUM LMESHFALc3 -68.89
LME/SHFE ZINC LMESHFZNc3 -15.18
LME/SHFE LEAD LMESHFPBc3 1461.48
LME/SHFE NICKEL LMESHFNIc3 3332.31
($1 = 6.8915 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Tom Daly; editing by Rashmi Aich)